So Close Yet So Far
by LAZYYYGIRL
Summary: Seth is a 9th grade geek, invisible to girls especially Summer, bullied by the jocks, like Luke, and has a best friend who has ditched him because of -- well, find out for yourself. [Pre-Ryan days]


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Author's Note : This is my first OC fic. starring non other than the OC clown Seth Cohen. We all know that Seth had two girls fought over him, had defeated a school rival who was trying to out-funny him, lost his virginity, seduced by a prostitute, etc. etc. But what about his early high school days? Seth had said once that HS sucks or sucked for him. Now let's all go back to his junior years and break it down to see how much it sucked, shall we?

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Chapter 1 : Friday Fiasco

"HEADS! Duck your head, queer!"

At the mention of the last word, Seth Cohen turned around to see soccer ball flying inches away towards his face then WHAM!

It hit his face real hard with such force that he almost lost his footing. There were ooh's from the other players but none of them bothered to ask if he was okay. Sniggering nearby were Luke Ward and his buddies.

Seth frowned. This was one of the reasons he thought why he shouldn't play soccer _-- _or any sport for that matter. He always had to get hit and in his case, it's actually unusual since the ball was always either rolling or soaring below. _Ugh, why didn't I duck?! _Seth grumbled to himself silently.

"Geez, Death Breath, kick the freakin' ball!" one of Seth's team mates who was dancing around impatiently, hollered to Seth, "I'M OPEN!"

Seth forced himself to stay focused on the ball and kicked as hard as he could. Instead of rocketing towards his team mate, it shot straight up into the air above his head. It landed forcefully on his head then he tripped over Luke Ward's foot and did a total face-dive into the field.

Seth was dreading that his close-fitting pants might split _-- _which they did with a loud ripping noise as he was standing up. His ripped pants now exposed the dorkiest Donald Duck underpants anyone had ever seen.

There was an instant chaos of laughter at this. Seth fully came up at this time, with bits of grass and mud stuck on his cheek, totally humiliated.

"Seth, get moving!" the coach yelled. He didn't even care about what had just happened. Well _who _would? Seth Cohen was only like ... _Seth Cohen_.

Luke came running past him and smirked, "Quack. Quack. Nice underpants."

Seth's face inflamed but he didn't say anything. Dejectedly, he watched as Luke stole the ball from a boy a few feet away from the goalie and kicked it rocketing into the net. Score. Well, no surprises there.

Luke was the 9th grade athlete star _-- _but for Seth he was nothing but a bullying beast. Luke would laugh at him whenever he would play and if he was feeling any meaner, he would get the other guys to laugh at Seth too and do other nasty stuff.

Seconds later, their coach blew his whistle. "Good game guys! Now..."

Without waiting for the coach to give the permission, Seth crept away towards the change room before everyone else. (His hands were covering his pant-rips) Thank god, PE was over. Seth hated that class _-- _he actually hated _all _of his classes _-- _since he didn't enjoy anything but sitting by himself during time-outs.

Seth entered the change room, grabbed his gym bag and ambled to the furthest corner of the room which was definitely the self-exile spot. He changed as slowly as possible and stayed there until everyone left and he was alone. Or at least he thought he was until someone kicked his gym bag when he was on the brink of picking it up.

"H-hey! What the_--_?" he raised his head to find himself surrounded by Luke and his four friends, all of them leering. Sighing, Seth closed his eyes as if he was wishing they would evaporate.

Seth was scared, still humiliated, angry at the world and exhausted. This wasn't the first time he was cornered and judging from the looks of their nasty-smiled faces, it was pretty obvious that something he wouldn't like was about to happen. It always would.

Like last grade eight, these same teeny jocks backed Seth into a corner and was forced to kneel, then sit up like a dog, beg, roll over and so on. That got a big laugh from the other watchers and the other time was when Luke and his friends pissed at Seth's new shoes that he had gotten from And1 _-- _can you say harsh?

"Look, Luke," Seth began in an tired, imploring voice since none of them spoke. "I'm tired and I want to go home_-- _"

Seth didn't want to sound too cowardly, he knew better than to plead but he needed a break from all this shit.

"Well that's no excuse," Luke said.

"What do I have to do to get you all to leave me alone?"

"Oh it's simple. All you've got to do is get naked _-- _except for your Duckie underpants of course _-- _and shake ya booty."

Luke and his friends cracked up. Seth gulped in terror. They weren't serious, were they?

"Hey dude, it's a joke. Laugh." said Eric.

Seth glanced around, half-grinning one second, looking uneasy the next, wondering whether he should laugh or not.

"Yeah no offence Cohen, but we can't have a stripper who looks like he should be playing the bass in the Motorhead band."

There was more laughter from the other guys.

"What do you think we should do to him, Luke?" said Tyson.

It was annoying and hurting, having to listen to them discuss Seth's fate for the day.

"Mmm?" Luke looked up, looking heavy-eyed all of sudden like he'd been thinking of something more important; He was picking up a folded letter that had fallen from his pocket. Seth caught a glimpse of the words To : M.C. written on it. M.C.? Who was that?

"Mince him! Let's mince Death Breath Seth!" came Nick's shrill in a horrible girlish voice. He was standing by the doorway, still in his PE loser-strip.

Seth stared in disbelief as he made his way towards them and squeezed himself with the jocks' circle between Bryan and Sylvester.

Nick was probably the biggest nerd in the school, his oily hair and thick-rimmed glasses was enough to prove it but Seth was wondering why he was still hanging around with the jocks. Everyone knew that they just used Nick for the tests last week.

"Shut up and go home." said Luke.

"What--NO! C'mon, let's see some real blood all over the place!" Nick protested, his eyes wild in excitement.

"Don't start with me."

"S-start what?" Nick was stammering. Oooh, look who was about to get _minced _now, Seth thought savagely. Luke just gave Nick an I-don't-have-to-answer-that look.

And as quick as that, Nick was in the hot seat, everyone was glaring at him and all of a sudden, he was thrown against the wall. Luke was the one who made decisions not him and now he was going to pay for it.

"This! Ok? We don't want some ugly pinner whose hair reeks, wears the thickest glasses and uses his shirt as a snot-rag. If you're thinking that you're suddenly IN our group then think again."

"But what about Seth? I want to beat him up with you dudes, he beat me in History test." he whined, as his fate drop into Luke's hands like a football.

The idiot! He thought they were going to love him for playing tough as though he was one of them, when what he was actually doing was handing out nails and wood so the jocks would crucify him and Seth along with him. For a whiz kid, Nick could be real stupid.

"Who cares about that?!" Luke said exasperatingly. Their Terrorizing-Cohen atmosphere was totally ruined. "Get the fuck out of here! No one wants to look at you, you piece of shit."

The pathetic piece of shit let out an awful whimper and fled the change room, now swinging back the spotlight to Seth who was remaining silent.

"Uh, so, what was it that you wanted me to?"

Luke ignored him and said to his buddies, "You know what guys I've had enough of the changeroom, let's just go."

"Glad you said that, dude." said Tyson.

"Hey, we need 30 bucks remember?" reminded Bryan.

"Wha _-- _oh yeah. Hand me 30 bucks and we won't make you miserable for 5 straight days." said Luke.

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Oh man. Why does it have to be on Friday?! Seth thought as he grudgingly retrieved a two 10-dollar bills and some coins from his pockets. He was about to hand them in to Luke's outstretched hand but Eric purposely shoved his hand away. The coins dropped and the bills fluttered down the floor.

"Geez, you are _so _clumsy Cohen. Pick those up."

Seth had no other choice but to kneel down the floor and go around gathering them back. As calm as he could, he thrusted the money to Luke and silently prayed for things to conclude.

Luke just grinned and turned around. "K. Let's jet."

"Bully ya lata, Death Breath."

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Finally, they were finally giving him a rest. Seth waited for them to stop kicking around his gym bag on their way out of the door.

Hmm...that didn't turn out so bad, Seth thought as he swung his gym bag over his shoulder. Well, sure, he only like had gotten himself hit by a soccer ball twice, did a face-dive into the dirty grass field during the last class, exposed his dorky Donald duck undearwear and was cornered _-- _not for the first time _-- _in the change room.

But hey, things could've gotten worse and other people had it worse...

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Author's Note : Geez, this chapter is as bad as Cohen's sports skills..LOL just playin. Drop some reviews.


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